English lingua franca as language of learning and teaching in northern Namibia : a report on Oshiwambo teachers' experiences

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: At independence, Namibia chose English as its official language and therefore its language oflearning and teaching (LOLT). Since then, government documents and other literature haverevealed the poor performance of learners and falling of standards of teaching (Benjamin2004:25). It seems that teachers are facing several challenges when using English as anLOLT in the classroom. This study therefore investigates the challenges faced by teachers innorthern Namibia when using ELF as a LOLT, as well as how teachers overcome thesechallenges. In this regard, structured, one-on-one interviews were conducted with sixOshiwambo-speaking teachers at a specific homogenous secondary school in the Omusatiregion of northern Namibia. The findings of this study suggest that teachers believe that thelearners' sole advantage of using ELF as the LOLT is that it may benefit them if they furthertheir studies abroad, as possessing knowledge of English would enable them to communicatewith people from different countries. Another main finding, in terms of how teachersovercome the challenges posed by using ELF as the LOLT, is that teachers often resort tocode-switching to ensure that their students understand the concepts they are being taught.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University